On a Sugar High

Asalam Alaikum,
This situation is getting ridiculous, when we first came to Karachi we could buy sugar in the market for Rs.45-55 per kilo, today the price is Rs. 125 per kilo. It seems like every couple of months there is a spike in the price, especially during Ramadan. Last year it got so bad that it was difficult to even find sugar in the market unless you went right at the time the delivery was coming off the truck. Tariq would have to go sometimes two to three times during the day to try to find sugar, and most of the shopkeepers wouldn't sell him more then one or two kilos at a time.

At one point when the shortage was really bad I remember watching the news and seeing a police officer in a room filled with sacks. He cut one open to show a white substance, then dipped his finger in to taste it. It was like a scene from a movie where the cop finds a shipment of cocaine. I thought it was a drug bust at first, but then Tariq translated, it was sugar.

This video from Al Jazeera from Ramadan last year shows how it was last Ramadan.


The problem seems to continue getting worse. Every time the price spikes afterward it doesn't return to its previous level, but ten to fifteen Rupees more than it was.